30 replies to this topic

[fishking123]

Dude!! Cleaning your filter with tap water will destroy the bacteria. Your tank is now uncycled.
Only ever clean your filter with tank water and never over clean it. Go to Aquotix today if you can and get it tested.

i have 2 filters in all my tanks and i only clean 1 at a time with tap warer

[Bowdy]

King seriously why would you use tap water. You only have one good filter running at one time what's the point of that when if you use tank water there both working together.
Your crazy

[fishking123]

my tap water is from the tank out the back. and when i use fishtank water is is brown in a sec so i just use tap water ( from the tank out the back)

ps this is a 10000 water tank that is treated with water conditioner it is api brand. i this tank was with the house.. but for the house we got a new tank.

Edited by fishking123, 02 April 2012 - 06:54 PM.

[Buccal]

I have a 2700 liter display tank completely crammed with fish, Malawi, tang, American cichlids, Asian cats and many other non cichlid fish, I water change everyday 30% straight out tap water, no conditioner.
Seachem prime after a filter clean for the next two days only. A filter gets cleaned every two months or so.
My brother runs a six foot in Madeley, Malawi and tangs, also jammed packed, water changed once a week, not once has he used conditioner. I've set up about six tanks for friends and family all in different suburbs most are four foot, from my advice they water change every fortnight and none of them use conditioner of any kind, these tanks are fine and running for one to three years.

[scottyhooton]

I agree buccai I rarely use water conditioner myself - no problems here

[Buccal]

I agree buccai I rarely use water conditioner myself - no problems here

Thanks dude, I was starting to feel like a black sheep, I truly think compared to the rest of the world we are all gifted here to have the water the way it comes out of the tap for us aquarists.

[Kent84]

The StressCoat is doing no harm. You remove ammonia by doing partial water changes with water treated with Prime. Both Prime and Ammolock will reduce the toxicity of ammonia, but only water changes or a cycled filter will remove it entirely.

If you stop feeding you won't have to change water as often as less ammonia will be produced.

If you test for ammonia all you will find out is that you have ammonia, and it will test positive whether or not Prime or Ammolock have reacted with it to reduce its toxicity.

Too much water changing will probably not help the whole cycling process overly much either.

Best thing would be to borrow a cycled filter from someone who has a spare and run it in parallel for 6 weeks. Good luck with that :>

So its fine to mix Api Stress Coat plus with Prime then yeah?. I guess my problem is my filter. gotta build my good bacteria back somehow. Thanks for the info. Lol i like how my post turns into a big debate about water from the tap and such. lol.

Just bought API Stress Zyme, i hope that will bring some good bacteria that i need for my filter. Fingers cross.... Oh i bought API Ammo Lock too cuz i Aquotix don't stock Seachem Prime. I hope it does the same trick.

Edited by Kent84, 03 April 2012 - 06:07 PM.

[bigjohnnofish]

I know my ground water because I have a bore, I originally wanted to use it for my breeding room because I was blessed with non-oxidizing water. But, heavy commercial market gardens, north east and south east has caused extreme high levels of nitrate in water, unbelievable high amounts, so much so my garden and lawn grow like no tomorrow. When I first moved in 7 years ago to my semi-rural 4.5 acres I was told that scene water had a lot of ground water in it. I rang up the water authorities only to find out that ground water added as a extra was very minimal. I have bought fish from people in Canningvale, Rockingham and many other places and tested the water on many occasions, tank water and tap water from previous curiosity. And turned out to be very similar to mine!.

nitrates are illegal in scheme water and i have never found any nitrate in any tap water i have tested.....

i find that high levels of nitrate in bore water to be unusual... plants suck every nitrate available to them to grow..... must be a hell of a lot of fertilizer wash off and then to seap through the ground into your bore water? hmmm dunno... quick question how deep is your bore Buccai ??? i have a family friend living in two rocks so i know how deep you have to be to get non-salty bore water.....

one other question when you tested water from canningvale and rockingham.... what exactly did you test for???

perth water is now networked and there are some serious differences in the north and south suburbs.....

reading back over this it sounds like a bit of a personal attack on you.... i assure you its not.... just wanting to further my knowledge of WA water......

[bigjohnnofish]

I have a 2700 liter display tank completely crammed with fish, Malawi, tang, American cichlids, Asian cats and many other non cichlid fish, I water change everyday 30% straight out tap water, no conditioner.
Seachem prime after a filter clean for the next two days only. A filter gets cleaned every two months or so.
My brother runs a six foot in Madeley, Malawi and tangs, also jammed packed, water changed once a week, not once has he used conditioner. I've set up about six tanks for friends and family all in different suburbs most are four foot, from my advice they water change every fortnight and none of them use conditioner of any kind, these tanks are fine and running for one to three years.

thats all good but it only takes one waterchange with an influx of heavy metals and your fish are history.... luck plays a big part whether or not you do a water change straight after some pipe maintenence or repairs have taken place... contamination can happen..... like a game of russian roulette...... do it long enough and sooner or later you may well come unstuck....

yes you can use tap water without water conditioner.... but needs to be aged long enough for chlorine ammonia etc to air off the water.... i would not recommend putting hose straight into your tank to top up without using a water conditioner of some kind....

did you know at times over 113 different chemicals are added to our water supply at different times of the year....

[Buccal]

After 22 years years of serious heavy water changes, I still have not ever come to any so called influx.
I have lived in Greenwood all my life then Two Rocks the past seven. But I would stress that a brand spanking new house the copper piping would be very poisonous for the first two months until the inside of piping becomes lined with a type of fixated corrosive chemical change or electrolysis, that green tinge lining.
There is a time and place for product use I don't doubt that.
My fish live for so long that when like minded aquarists see my fish, they just don't realize how big most of these cichlids can really get, majority of my fish live about 7-8 years sometimes 10 !.
I'm also going to mix things up here on the subject, on my display keeping in mind how long my fish live for, I use white crane super g in 20% of their diet for obviously color also no unwanted fry and the odd fish that turns out female is also colored. Please, I'm not saying the g increases life, if anything the opposite.
I'm just saying all these stressed do and don't, if excess precautions are practiced that is fine, but it is also fine to go with what comes straight out of the tap, a lot of people would be surprised with what they can get away with and what they thought they couldn't. The debate I guess will always stay fueled.

[Kent84]

Sorry but i am gona close this topic since it has pathway to something else. Go start a debate about your tap water in a new topic or something. Thanks.